Proper Classification of Recipients on ComCare Financial Assistance
At our weekly MPS, estate walkabouts and community events, I get the opportunity to regularly meet our residents who are on ComCare assistance to find out how things are with them. Some of them are on Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance (SMTA). Others are on Long-Term Assistance (LTA). From my discussions with residents on SMTA, I noted 1 bugbear: even though their financial situation does not change much, they have been classified as needing only SMTA. This requires a 3 month review of their case. Some of them feel they should be considered for LTA instead as they have been on SMTA for years. Hence, I asked the Ministry for Social and Family Development in Parliament a series of questions over 2 sittings to better understand how the classifications are done, and how there could be better assessment of the timelines for renewal. My PQs and the responses from the Minister and Senior Parliamentary Secretary are set out below.
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Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Social and Family Development with regard to the decrease in number of households and individuals receiving ComCare Long-Term Assistance (LTA) and a concurrent increase in the number of households receiving ComCare Short-to-Medium-Term-Assistance (SMTA), for the period 2017 to 2021 (a) how many households and individuals receiving SMTA have it renewed for a period of three years or more; (b) why have they not been considered for LTA; and © what steps have been or will be taken to ensure that recipients of ComCare assistance are properly classified.
Mr Masagos Zulkifli B M M: The number of households assisted with ComCare Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance (SMTA) had averaged around 28,000 per year from FY2017 to FY2019. The number increased significantly in FY2020 to around 36,000 due to the economic impact of COVID-19 and the flexibilities exercised by Social Service Offices (SSOs) during the pandemic to provide ComCare support, before falling below 34,000 in FY2021. At the same time, the number of households assisted with ComCare Long-Term Assistance (LTA) has been decreasing from around 4,400 in FY2017 to around 3,900 in FY2021. The decrease is possibly due to more Singaporeans continuing to earn income from employment and enhancements in support for seniors such as the introduction of the Silver Support Scheme in 2016.
We take this opportunity to explain how ComCare works. ComCare LTA is granted to a household in very specific circumstances. The recipient must be permanently unable to work and have little or no financial means and have little or no family support.
ComCare SMTA is provided to a household with little financial means. If the evidence does not show that the recipient is permanently unable to work, then the SSO does not grant ComCare LTA. This is because the circumstances of the household may change, which is why assistance is time-bound but is renewable.
It is therefore incorrect to presume that just because a household has been receiving ComCare SMTA for more than three years, they have been misclassified and ought to be placed on ComCare LTA.
LENGTH OF REVIEW PERIOD FOR HOUSEHOLDS ON COMCARE SHORT-TO-MEDIUM-TERM ASSISTANCE PROGRAMMES
Mr Murali Pillai asked the Minister for Social and Family Development with respect to households assisted with ComCare Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance (SMTA) that wish to have the support renewed (a) whether there is a difference in the review period for households assessed to require short-term assistance as compared to the review period for medium-term assistance under SMTA; and (b) what is the average review period for the purposes of assessing applications for renewal in both circumstances.
The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social and Family Development (Mr Eric Chua) (for the Minister for Social and Family Development): Mr Speaker, the term “Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance” (SMTA) is a single category describing ComCare assistance that is not long-term in nature.
In terms of both the processing time and duration of approved support, we make no distinction between what may be considered short-term or medium-term assistance. More than nine out of 10 ComCare applications, including renewal applications, have been processed within four weeks, once the necessary documents have been submitted by applicants. Approved applications are typically for periods of about three to six months and are renewable on further application.
Mr Speaker: Mr Murali Pillai.
Mr Murali Pillai (Bukit Batok): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I ask the hon Senior Parliamentary Secretary whether MSF is prepared to review its system to set timelines for the three categories of cases: short-term assistance, medium-term assistance and long-term assistance? The reason why I suggest this is because then there will be efficiency in relation to provision of time-bound support for these families and it will also result in the saving of manpower and the time on the part of MSF officers in assessing each case to see whether the help should be renewed.
Mr Eric Chua: Mr Speaker, I thank the hon Member for his additional supplementary questions. I think there are two buckets here. One is for long-term assistance. Typically, we are looking at residents who may not be able to be in employment, so we are talking about seniors who live alone; seniors who are not able to work and in the long haul, will need assistance for quite a long time. So, that is long-term assistance.
For short- to medium-term assistance, we are looking at families and I think that the Member will agree with me that there will be some variability, in terms of the conditions in each family. I have mentioned earlier in my original reply that the families are able to come back to the Social Service Office to renew their applications, even before their applications are due to expire. The point about this renewal process is not so much to impose an unnecessary bandwidth tax on these families but rather to have regular check-ins with these families, so that together with the families, we can journey with them, understand the difficulties they are facing and then, render assistance where needed.
So, as I have mentioned in my earlier reply, between the short and medium term, we do not make that distinction, but the principle is one and the same and that is to lend appropriate and prompt assistance to the families, where needed.
Mr Speaker: Mr Pillai.
Mr Murali Pillai: Sir, I apologise if I was not clear in my earlier question. The point is this: you have a category called Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance for Comcare. I have heard from the hon Senior Parliamentary Secretary that the Ministry does not make a distinction in relation to the timelines for the review. My point is whether MSF could consider imposing timelines, or rather, coming up with appropriate timelines, so there is no mismatch in expectations of families getting assistance and the expectations of the Ministry in relation to assessing whether or not continued care and assistance is needed.
I have now, situations whereby families are coming up and saying, “Look, my situation has not changed and yet, I have to come back to MSF to submit my case for review.” That presents a waste of time and effort.
Mr Eric Chua: Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for his supplementary questions. I will make two points in response. First is the fact that I think between families to families, there are differences in circumstances, differences in terms of the challenges that each family faces. So, what is applicable to one family might not be quite applicable to the rest.
The second point I want to make is that the renewal process, as much as possible, we have made it less onerous. In terms of documents submission, we are not expecting the family to come back with the full suite of documentation that was needed at first application. In fact, we will only need documentation that reflects the changes. For instance, if there are changes in terms of employment status, due to hospitalisation leave, medical leave, or changes in other aspects of their financial conditions, those documents can be presented to the Social Service Office so that relevant assistance can be presented.
In terms of making sure that there is as little bandwidth tax on them as possible for the renewal process, the Member would be happy to note that now, applications for renewal as well as first applications can be made online on the SupportGoWhere portal. As much as possible, we are trying to make this as seamless and as frictionless a process for families as possible.
